Science Award 2022

For several years now, SCHUHFRIED has been awarding prizes to young scientists if their submitted study used tests from the Vienna Test System. Because it is not only research that is important to SCHUHFRIED, but also the promotion of innovation and further development.

Marcelo Odilon Cabral de Andrade is studying the extent to which performance in peripheral perception predicts efficient tactical behaviour in football in Brazil.

What makes some football players more tactically efficient than others? To answer this question, 80 players from Brazilian football clubs with similar formal training time and competition level were compared. After an objective classification into tactically less and more efficient players, all participants completed the PP of the Vienna Test System.

It was found that the more tactically efficient players had higher peripheral perception scores in terms of visual field, reaction time and deviation from running direction compared to the less tactically efficient players. As a result, these footballers also achieve better match performance.

 Find our more 

Marcelo Odilon Cabral de Andrade, Varley Teoldo da Costa, Tomás García-Calvo, António Figueiredo & Israel Teoldo (2021) Peripheral perception as discriminant factor of tactical behaviour efficiency of young soccer players, International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 19:6, 1034-1045, DOI: 10.1080/1612197X.2021.1948588

Sandra E. Rakers is conducting research in the Netherlands on the relationship between mental fatigue and the severity of traumatic brain injury suffered.

The aim was to identify factors that contribute to mental fatigue at different levels of severity of traumatic brain injury by investigating the influence of impaired information processing, psychological stress and coping styles.

The sample was divided into people with moderate traumatic brain injury, mild traumatic brain injury and no disease (healthy control group). In addition to questionnaires on fatigue, anxiety, depression and coping styles, all participants completed tests on information processing speed (DT and RT).

Conclusion: There are important differences in the determinants of mental fatigue across the spectrum of severity of traumatic brain injury. The results lead to different treatment goals when the severity of the injury is taken into account.

The study has already been submitted for publication but has not yet been published.

Haneol Kim in the USA is studying the peripheral perception of professional gamers compared to recreational gamers.

Esports require exceptional fine motor and perceptual skills such as anticipation, eye-hand coordination and peripheral awareness. The results of this study showed that professional gamers demonstrated earlier and more consistent anticipation timing across four stimulus speeds compared to amateurs in the anticipation timing task. In the peripheral perception task (recorded with PP), the professional players showed a larger visual perception angle than the amateurs. There were no significant differences in eye-hand coordination.

 The whole study can be found here.

Kim, H., Kim, S., & Wu, J. (2022). Perceptual-Motor Abilities of Professional Esports Gamers and Amateurs, Journal of Electronic Gaming and Esports (published online ahead of print 2022). Retrieved Nov 10, 2022, from https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jege/aop/article-10.1123-jege.2022-0001/article-10.1123-jege.2022-0001.xml

Are you planning a project or have you already used tests from the Vienna Test System for your study?

Then take advantage of our SCHUHFRIED Research Support!
Or apply for the upcoming SCHUHFRIED Science Award and perhaps we will soon be able to present you and your work here.